Vegan Black Metal Chef

This weekend was spent in bed nursing a broken toe and recovering from a hideous vomit bug I caught off Miss Jasmine T.

The only thing that cheered me up was this link my dear friend Mr Zincke sent. If you have a spare 15 minutes, dim the lights, spark up a few candles and check it out. Solid gold...and actually quite informative!

A house warming crafternoon

On Sunday, our monthly crafternoon session was held at Kelly and Andrew's gorgeous new digs. As Miss Jasmine T was rather well-behaved beforehand, I managed to crack out these peanuty sesame noodles. With mostly warm weather upon us, these noodles are great when eaten cold and won't suffer much from banging about in your bag on the way to a picnic.
I ended up making quite a large batch but if you want to size it down you could divide the ingredients to what you need - as a guide, the dressing should have the consistency of a thick batter, for optimal noodle coverage.

Peanuty sesame noodles
makes enough for around 8-9 people as a side

What you need
For peanut dressing
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter plus a few extra spoons for good luck
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup warm water
1 thumb of chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons of jarred chili (as the potency of jarred chili can vary quite significantly, you might want to taste a bit first and then adjust quantity accordingly)

for the noodles
4 packs of sharwoods dried egg noodles - 1 pack of spaghetti or somen noodles would work well too
a third of a cucumber, sliced thinly in rounds then cut into thin strips
a handful of mint, finely chopped
a couple of tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds
half an iceberg lettuce, chopped as thinly as you can make it
1 lemon, cut into wedges

The do
Cook the noodles as per instructions, then drain and rinse under cold water. You can leave them in the colander while you prepare the dressing.
In a food processor or blender, throw in the dressing ingredients and blitz until thoroughly combined.
Transfer half the dressing into a very big bowl, throw in the drained noodles, then pour the rest of the dressing on top. Use your hands to evenly coat the noodles with the dressing.
Spread the lettuce and mint evenly over the top and then sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. If you aren't digging in straight away, leave it to hang out in the fridge for a while, then give it a good toss and serve with lemon wedges.

This is should be a hit with everyone except those unfortunate enough to have a peanut allergy - Andrew even came out of isolation and braved a kitchen full of women and a boisterous toddler to get a second helping, so I guess that says something!

Tunes
Kelly's ipod

Yu Sheng In Print

Chew's delicious Yu Sheng salad recipe made it into the pages of thelondonpaper this week. I thoroughly recommend it for Chinese New Year festivities, both for fabulous flavour and salad twister party antics.

D&D day

I have to say that I've always found my bloke's secret Dungeons and Dragons life rather intriguing. Every so often they congregate for a game which lasts an entire day - so I, wanting to see want it was all about, offered to cook for them. Unfortunately, I'm still no closer to understanding what it is they actually do with those crazy 20-sided dice, but this is what i made...




What you need
1 cucumber, halved length ways, seeds removed and sliced thinly
2 red capsicum, sliced thinly
1 cup of frozen peas, cooked
noodles, cooked until just soft, rinsed under cold water and drained - I used Chinese quick cooking noodles (Japanese somen or soba noodles would also work a treat. OR thin spaghetti snapped in half before cooking would might also work well)
Japanese mayonnaise
sesame seeds
sesame oil




The do
In a big bowl, add the drained noodles and vegetables. Drizzle with sesame oil and add mayonnaise to taste (because I'm obsessed with Japanese mayonnaise, I added a lot, but some people like less). Using your hands mix everything together thoroughly. Set aside.
In a frying pan on medium flame, heat a few tablespoons of sesame seeds until golden and pour evenly over the top of the salad.



I served these with my corn cakes

EASY PEASY JAPANESEY

As Lily said, I've been pretty busy lately - but all work and no play doesn't have to mean crappy food. For those Melburnians out there, this dish is my rip-off of the one they serve at the Nudel Bar, and it has been my staple for the last few weeks.


Green tea soba noodles and avocado

What you need
Green tea soba noodles or plain japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles
Gari (pink pickled ginger)
a perfectly ripe avocado
good quality soy sauce or tamari
wasabi

The do
Bring a saucepan of cold water to the boil. Drop in a bundle of soba noodles (they usually come divided in neat little bundles, don't forget to remove the tape!) Boil for a few minutes until they are cooked. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well and pile onto a plate.
Cube half an avocado onto the noodles.
Serve with a blob of wasabi, gari and a small dish of soy for dunking the noodles in. Sprinkle with some black sesame seeds and sesame oil if you have it.